Tribe lays to rest ancestral remains

Boxes containing the remains of Native American ancestors are walked into the Nibokaan Ancestral Cemetery on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013 during the Recommitted to the Earth Ceremony. The ceremony was part of the repatriation of the remains, which were given to the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe from the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and the MIchigan State Police. (sun photo by LISA YANICK-JONAITIS/@lisayj_msun)

Standing near the fence at the Nibokaan Ancestral Cemetery in Isabella County, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal members and others each took a cardboard box from a moving trailer Friday afternoon.

Lining up single file, the men and women quietly waited for the beginning of the Recommitted to the Earth Ceremony.

Each cardboard box contained, in burial bundles, the remains of Native American ancestors, and each man and woman holding the remains stayed with them until they were given back to Mother Earth.

Two distinct burial pits were carved into the ground in the cemetery, created in 1995 to inter ancestral remains and associated funerary objects that were held by universities, museums and other institutions.

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Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State Police turned over the remains of 44 Natives to the Tribe earlier this week.

Friday’s ceremony and reburial at the cemetery, on East Tomah Road in Chippewa Township, marked the final leg of their journey home.

Central Michigan University returned Native remains in 2010, prior to the passage of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, and those are interred at Nibokaan.

Those remains were returned to the Tribe out of respect and love, and when they were buried at Nibokaan, room was left for their lost relatives.

Shannon Martin, director of the Tribe’s Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways, repatriation is very important for Native American tribes and for reconciliation with the institutions that used Native remains for studies.

Having meticulous records of the remains and funerary objects, the Native Americans being repatriated Friday were identified and placed close to family members.

Ancestral remains came from several sites in Michigan, from Alpena to Oakland County, Martin said.

Three of the remains in Friday’s ceremony were identified by the Ziibiwing staff; two were accidental deaths, and one was tragic.

Those three were given a full funeral Thursday night, because they did not get that recognition earlier.

Friday’s ceremony restored the dignity of the remains and gave those attending a chance to pay their respects.

After the ceremony began, men and women walked the remains through the cemetery to the two open burial pits, each lined with birch bark.

After placing the remains in the graves, each of the burial bundles was covered with birch bark and cedar.

Institutions that had Native American ancestral remains have been returning them to tribes in accordance with the NAGPRA, but those that have been shipped overseas, and any that are parts of private collections, are not subject to the law, Martin said.

Ancestral remains at the Smithsonian Institution are to be returned through other means, and the Tribe is still waiting on some for final transfer of possession from Michigan State University and U of M, Martin said.